ChosenRebel's Blog

One of the great pitfalls of any politically divided age is the tendency of both sides to demonize the motives, strategies, and the persons of the other side. This is equally true of both the right and the left, even if both are blind to the reality, maybe especially because they are blind. The beast of self-righteousness rears its head among both the religious and the irreligious, among both left and right. The human heart, capable of great goodness, it is also capable of great self-deception. It is here, at the center of our self-deception, that Bonhoeffer’s words from The Cost of Discipleship, serve as a great reminder and warning.

“The life of discipleship can only be maintained as long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves, neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world. The disciple looks only to the hand of his Master, never to Christ AND the law, Christ AND religion, Christ AND the world. Only by following Christ alone can he preserve a single eye.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Cost of Discipleship

Bonhoeffer echo’s the psalmist in Psalm 123:2:

² Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us.

A “single eye,” or as Kierkegaard described purity of heart is “the will to one thing.” To will “one thing” is a difficult discipline to maintain. But difficult as it may be, it is necessary if we would avoid the pitfall of “cheap grace” which is what Bonhoeffer is seeking to warn us about in the paragraph above. 

Some questions based on Bonhoeffer’s quote & Psalm 123:

1. What are the things in our lives that keep us from having a “single eye” in our pursuit of Christ?
2. What are the political commitments (right or left) that are eclipsing our pursuit of Christ?
3. Have we added anything to our faith that actually hinders us from pursuing Christlikeness?
4. Perhaps I/we need to spend a day meditating on Psalm 123:2.

“Search us, O God, and help us to see, so that nothing stands between my eye and a keenly focused heart on pursuing You and Your will above all, without compromise. For Your glory I ask it. Amen.”